


Big Daddy and Mama Bear

by elementalmystique



Series: Graceland 1.04 Pizza Box [3]
Category: Graceland (TV)
Genre: Briggs/Charlie if you squint. Building up to that later., F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-29
Updated: 2013-06-29
Packaged: 2017-12-16 13:22:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/862493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elementalmystique/pseuds/elementalmystique
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie and Briggs discuss about Mike witnessing Eddie's suicide. Contains some Pizza Box spoilers but this scene is very definitely made up by me and is not part of the actual episode unlike the other works in the series. I'm building up to future Charlie/Briggs but you can't see it in this doc, I think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Big Daddy and Mama Bear

Charlie left the lights on in the kitchen, knowing that Briggs and Mike still weren’t back home yet. She grimaced as she glanced around the mess that had been left. Dirty dishes and utensils spilled over the kitchen island and counters, and overflowed the sink. Partway through the meal, Johnny and DJ had been in the middle of talking smack when Johnny had accidentally-on-purpose dumped spaghetti — without Charlie’s sauce, thank goodness; she would have conked him on the head with her ladle — onto DJ’s head. 

The resulting food fight with the spare pasta and remaining salad had been epic in proportions. Johnny had speed and swift reaction times on his side, but DJ had had brawn. Paige, on her part, had called out jibes and occasionally stirred up another round of food flinging with a well-aimed gob of noodles or a carefully thrown tomato. 

Half an hour ago, the insanity had finally died down, and Paige, DJ, and Johnny had gone off to clean up and get ready for bed. Charlie had spent that time trying to temper the mess down for Mike’s sake, picking strands of pasta and lettuce leaves off the floor and table and chairs. 

“Whatever happened to ‘there will be no leftovers’?” DJ had hollered at her as Charlie had pushed him away from the lone survivor plate on the island. 

“You just said you were so full you were going to blow your chunks all over the floor,” she had pointed out. “Don’t make Levi have to mop up your innards, okay? The kid’s had had a long week of badasses trying to shoot him and all kinds of tricky shit being flung at him.” 

Naturally, that had started DJ and Johnny on another rant about how they’d almost been shot by DJ’s ex and dangerous pot farmer friend — or rather, as Johnny said, “a very sexy pot farmer friend” — but they’d been sufficiently distracted that she had managed to shoo them away before they’d ganged up on the single plate of pasta. 

Now she carefully surrounded Mike’s plate in Saran wrap and, for good measure, plastered a sticky note with his name written on it in Sharpie onto the plastic. Sliding it onto the island where he could see it, she smiled fondly as she wiped her hands on a dish towel and trotted out of the kitchen. 

Once outside, she nearly ran straight into Briggs. The man was walking to his room, but his usual casual lope was tensed and lacked his normally tranquil confidence. 

“Hey, Paul.” 

He looked as if he didn’t recognize her for a second. Then clarity rushed back into his dark eyes and he forced a flippant smile. “Hey, Mama Bear. How was Sauce Night?” 

“You and Mikey missed out.” She smiled teasingly, but Briggs didn’t return it in like kind, and the well of concern started to flood. “There was a food fight.” 

“Tell me it was good.” 

“One for the history books. I think DJ won by half a point.” 

“Only half a point? Dude’s getting slippery.” 

“I know.” 

Now that they were done dancing around each other, Charlie felt a hard stone settle in the pit of her stomach. “Where’s Mike?” 

Briggs took a long breath. His eyes were fixed on a singular point over her shoulder, as if he couldn’t quite look her in the eye. 

“With East Coast Girl.” 

Charlie was about to heave a sigh of relief when she realized that Briggs wasn’t smiling or ribbing her or making fun of Mike. 

“Something happened tonight, didn’t it. With Bello.” She made it abundantly clear that it was a statement rather than a question, and Briggs nodded reluctantly. 

“Mike’s cover’s safe and he’s not hurt,” he said by lieu of explanation, “but Eddie shot himself in front of Mike after a big buildup by Bello and a lot of dick-measuring.” 

Charlie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Damnit.” 

“Yeah. The kid’s kind of rattled right now.” 

Charlie ran her hand over her face. “I think I’ll stay up and wait for him. I just want to check that he’s okay.” 

Briggs’ eyes shot to hers. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing tonight, Charlie. First of all, I don’t know how late Mikey’s going to be out, and secondly, I think we need to give him a bit of space.” 

“He’s hurting, Paul. He needs to know he isn’t alone.” 

“Kid saw someone get shot up close and personal about a month out. I’m not sure how receptive he’ll be. Remember what happened with the Russians?” 

Charlie did remember. Mike had kept to himself for a day or two. He hadn’t locked himself away like a hermit, but his sunny smile had been several shades less bright, and he had been lost in his thoughts several times that any other Graceland resident had tried to summon his attention. With Eddie’s death weighing on his conscience, he would definitely be hurting a great deal more this time around. 

“He thinks it’s his fault, doesn’t he.” 

Briggs nodded and looked away. “If there’s anyone to be blamed in this whole mess, it’s me. I went ahead with the deal to get Eddie out because I thought it would be — and it was — the perfect solution to our problem. I mean, Mike’s now in deep with Bello, the problematic snitch is out of the way, and we’re home free.” His tone turned harsh. “And yet, even though Mike’s upset about Eddie’s death, I can’t bring myself to regret that he’s dead. I’m not sure how Mike’s going to take that if he ever asks and I have to tell him the truth.” 

“You don’t regret it?” Charlie asked. “I’m just as much to blame as you. We both thought of this together, but Mikey was the one to face the heat, and he got burned.” 

Briggs’ gaze sharpened. “I never wanted Mike to have that on his conscience. But Eddie had come too close, Charlie, and he put Mike at risk multiple times. Who knows what would have happened if Bello had believed Eddie at any one of those times. We’ll be getting the kid back sans an eye, a brain, or worse. You know the stories about Bello. They’re all true, since Eddie just confirmed them for us. Remember, in this house, we come first. He’s part of the family, and I won’t let anybody screw with that. Not ever.” 

Charlie smiled. “Why, Big Daddy,” she teased. “You’re getting soft.” 

Briggs only smiled back. “You can go after the kid tomorrow, Charlie. I’ll check up on him briefly tonight, but I get the feeling that Levi just needs to get some normalcy away from that maniac Bello and his dogs. Hopefully his date works out tonight, because right now he really needs it. Badly.” 

“What about you?” Charlie called after him as Briggs gently pushed past her into the kitchen. “What do you need?” 

Briggs emerged from the kitchen a few seconds later carrying a rum bottle and a smile that was more of a self-deprecating sneer. “I think I have it covered. Want to join?”


End file.
